hankyoreh

June 17. (by Lee Jeong-woo

By Song Chae Kyung-hwa and Kim Bo-hyeop, staff reporters

Moon Jae-in has officially announced his candidacy for South Korea’s presidency. On June 17, Moon declared that he would realize a “change in administrations, change in politics, and change in eras.”

Prior to his announcement at a press conference in Seoul’s West Gate Independence Park, the Democratic United Party lawmaker posted a short online video in which he explained his reasons for running.

Moon said, “I plan to become the president of our country”.

“The ‘our country’ I am aiming for is not a country that we leave to politicians, but one where citizens participate directly in politics,” he added.

Moon went on to add, “I plan to build a new Republic of Korea founded upon two values: fairness, where all citizens are given equal opportunities, and justice, where we rid ourselves of foul play, special privileges, and corruption.”

As part of the push for citizen engagement, Moon proposed that the public participate in writing his declaration of candidacy through his Twitter and Facebook accounts. He received 9,228 responses, which were incorporated into his statement.

In declaring his candidacy, Moon placed special emphasis on words like “us,” “citizens,” “together,” “companions,” and the metaphor of “ivy” as something that links together to cross over walls. These were the wishes expressed when citizens joined together on Twitter to contribute to the declaration, he explained.

The way toward achieving this, he added, would be “politics that travels with the citizen.”

“The path of the President is the wish of the public,” he said, sending a message reminiscent of the slogan used in 2002 by then-candidate Roh Moo-hyun, who said, “The President‘s first priority should be the public.” Many of the supporters attending Moon’s announcement ceremony were families dressed in yellow, a color associated with Roh.

Moon had previously discussed his political future in his autobiography “It‘s Destiny,” in which he wrote to the late Roh, “You have now been freed from destiny, but I can’t go anywhere because of the tasks you left behind.” Roh committed suicide in 2009.

Speaking at a press conference just before the declaration, Moon said, “My feelings now are, ‘You’ve finally arrived at this place. You‘ve crossed the bridge and there’s no turning back. All you can do now is move forward.‘”

Moon presented what he described as the necessary steps to achieve a “great transition” at a time when market fundamentalism is expanding the gap between rich and poor, the base for the middle and working classes is giving way, SMEs and small business owners are suffering, and local economies suffer from underdevelopment. “We need to clear away the legacy of the developmental dictatorship model and create a democratic and equitable market economy where people can live like people,” he said.

Moon presented a vision of a “new Korea of shared prosperity and peace.” He also expressed hopes for a country that achieves peace and shared prosperity with North Korea on a foundation of trust and cooperation.

Will such an opportunity come to Moon and those who share his dream? He currently enjoys the highest support of any of the DUP’s presidential hopefuls, but three barriers must be passed.

The first of these is his becoming the party‘s official nominee. Next is software mogul Ahn Cheol-soo, who enjoys strong support among citizens looking for a change in administrations. Only by passing through these two gateways does he make it to the third: a match with the New Frontier Party candidate.

Moon’s biggest asset at the moment is none other than Roh Moo-hyun. Most of the people helping him worked previously with the Roh administration and Blue House.

But Roh is also something of a liability. A DUP lawmaker said, “With the last general elections and the third anniversary of Roh‘s death, citizens began to separate Moon from their feelings about Roh and the policies of his administration.” Unless they can overcome this, Moon’s supporters will have difficulty extending their reach.

Another Achilles heel for Moon is his lack of political experience. His camp claims that his experience as presidential Chief of Staff and Blue House senior secretary for civil affairs provided him with ample governance experience, but both those positions were as aides to someone else. Moon is short on political activity in his own name. There is also the matter of conflicting demands from citizens, who want new politics, along with the stability that comes with political and administrative experience.

Moon mentioned jobs as one of his top governance tasks, saying he wanted to become “a President who is remembered by later generations for creating a job revolution.” He added that his first acts as president would be to establish a presidential council on jobs and hold monthly meetings of a government council for reviewing the job situation. Areas of emphasis here would include converting temporary workers to full-time status and eliminating discrimination against them, while opening up new positions through shorter working hours.

Moon offered four growth strategies in his announcement: promoting consumption and investment through greater redistribution, realizing innovations in education, increasing the use of new and renewable sources of energy, and working together through social networking services.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]